Thank you so much to everyone at the M.O.D and the RAF and to all who have kindly supported my writing.
Characters
The strange souls, machines and cosmic nuisances of Space 2047.
Space 2047 — story summary
Space 2047 is a comic science-fiction journey through the galaxy of Hooareu, where space is vast, dark, lonely and catastrophically boring. The crew of the spacecraft Are We There Yet! work as intergalactic delivery drivers, carrying useless goods through a universe filled with malfunctioning robots, dangerous aliens, flying donuts, sentient devices, impossible shops and conversations that spiral into glorious nonsense. Under the jokes, the book is about boredom, loneliness, money worries, friendship, strange dreams, and the desperate human need for adventure when life feels endlessly repetitive.
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Benjamin Robinson
Author, world-builder and in-site character
The book’s creator belongs on the Characters page as the strange-world architect behind the whole comic universe. On the site he should feel like the host of the impossible study: thoughtful, imaginative, slightly mischievous, and proudly inviting readers into Space 2047.
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Brian
Serious, intense, strong and wonderfully ridiculous
Brian is one of the funniest anchors of the crew: determined, steely-eyed, strangely grandiose, and capable of treating everyday embarrassment as if it were a heroic crisis. His seriousness makes the absurdity land harder, and his loneliness gives him a surprising warmth.
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Cedric
Calm, odd, sentimental and accidentally hilarious
Cedric is a gentle comic engine for the book. His ideas are often terrible, his romantic life is wonderfully unfortunate, and his calmness makes his eccentric behaviour even funnier. He is one of the most loveable misfits aboard the ship.
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Mary
Cedric’s temporary identity
Mary is the book’s playful way of showing that identity in Space 2047 can be costume, joke and chaos all at once. This version of Cedric adds a surreal theatrical touch to the opening crew introductions.
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Salomina
Beautiful, wild, stylish and gloriously unfiltered
Salomina is bold, seductive, chaotic and very funny. She brings danger, glamour and nose-cleaning insanity into the crew dynamic, and her sharp comments help keep the ship’s conversations lively.
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Karen Toni Loretta Bobbi Erasmus
Powerful, strange, funny and unexpectedly formidable
Karen is one of the book’s strongest comic inventions. Her childhood accident with Ucan and her levitating powers give her a superhero-like origin story, but the humour keeps her grounded in complete absurdity.
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Sarah
Crew member mentioned in the ship’s journey
Sarah appears as part of the wider crew world and helps give the ship the feeling of a living, changing comic ensemble. She adds to the sense that Space 2047 is packed with people drifting through endless boredom and danger.
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Susan
Crisp-loving space traveller with dangerous charm
Susan arrives memorably through the giant rabbit encounter and immediately feels like a classic Space 2047 character: attractive, strange, polite, suspicious, and probably trouble. Her appetite for crisps and chaotic past make her very entertaining.
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Apollo
Susan’s companion in the wider adventure
Apollo belongs to the lively outer orbit of the story, linked with Susan and the flying-donut chaos. He adds to the sense of a universe where every new person may become part of the next ridiculous disaster.
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The intergalactic communication software
Narrator, recorder and possible future conqueror
The software voice is a brilliant comic narrator: sarcastic, observant, bored, judgmental and quietly threatening. Its desire to prove humans stupid gives the book a sharp satirical edge.
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The digital display map
Sentient navigation aid with expensive dreams
The map turns a practical tool into a demanding character. Its wish for a better life, money, fine dining and a body makes it a very Space 2047 idea: technology with vanity, poetry and unreasonable expectations.
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The ship's computer
Practical machine at the centre of the chaos
The ship’s computer helps hold the adventure together while everyone else spirals into strange conversations. It works well as a straight-faced contrast to the crew’s panic and absurd reasoning.
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The security droid
Public-service robot with a fragile sense of pride
The security droid is a small comic masterpiece: officious, defensive and absurdly proud of minor civic achievements. Its argument with the angry cyclist gives the early book a lovely slapstick rhythm.
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Ivor NoWife
The unlucky angry cyclist
Ivor is a great example of the book’s talent for turning bystanders into full-blown comic disasters. He begins as a victim of Karen’s flying projector and becomes a ridiculous monument to rage, bad luck and scorched trousers.
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Karen's father
Incompetent parent and accidental cause of chaos
Karen’s father is grimly comic: careless, drunken and responsible for leaving the Ucan where baby Karen can reach it. He helps create one of the funniest origin stories in the book.
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Karen's mother
Fierce off-page force
Karen’s mother is felt as a looming authority figure, the kind of person even a chaos-powered child would fear disappointing. She adds domestic pressure to the cosmic absurdity.
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Brian's mother
Weightlifting, moustache-wearing legend
Brian’s mother is outrageous even in memory: a champion weightlifter, pub regular and tragic launderette casualty. She helps explain Brian’s need for hard cuddles and emotional reassurance.
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The angry man with burning trousers
Victim of Karen’s first great disaster
This man is pure comic escalation. His injury, rage, designer clothes and bicycle disaster turn Karen’s childhood scene into a chaotic cartoon of blame and panic.
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The giant space rabbit
Mysterious wonder in the darkness
The giant rabbit is exactly the kind of surreal sight the bored crew needs. It breaks the monotony of space and opens the door to another ridiculous adventure.
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The flying donuts
Weaponised bakery menace
The flying donuts are wonderfully silly antagonists because they make snack food feel genuinely dangerous. Their laser attacks are a perfect example of the book’s comic sci-fi imagination.
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MAM flesh-eating aliens
Real danger underneath the jokes
MAM bring threat and urgency to the story. They are funny because of the outrageous detail, but they also raise the stakes: the crew really could be eaten.
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The sentient vacuum cleaner
Accidental romantic victim
This character is funny because it exists mainly through Salomina’s outrageous history. It shows how even household appliances can become emotionally complicated in Space 2047.
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The washing machine sales robots
Practical background weirdos
These robots are a neat part of the universe’s consumer-sci-fi texture. They make the ship feel absurdly serviced, commercial and oddly domestic.
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Shopkeepers Anonymous
Vengeful commercial watchdogs
Shopkeepers Anonymous turns unpaid bills and shoplifting into intergalactic criminal mythology. It is a funny piece of world-building that makes the crew’s poverty feel epic.
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Comfort robots
Romantic products that create more problems
The comfort robots are funny because they promise companionship but become an awkward source of chaos. They sharpen the book’s satire of loneliness, consumerism and space travel.
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Celebrity robots
Glamorous products of a silly economy
The celebrity robots help define the universe’s bizarre marketplace, where signed pictures and robotic glamour become delivery cargo. They add shine and stupidity to the background world.
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Space hamsters
Huge, amorous and inconvenient
The space hamsters are absurdly vivid. As a currency symbol and physical nuisance, they give Susan’s world extra comic scale.
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Betty on the moon
Distant romantic punchline
Betty is more joke than major player, but she captures the book’s talent for making throwaway details feel like tiny windows into a much stranger universe.
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Efallingover
Owner of a rescued biscuit
Efallingover is a brilliant background gag: the sort of name that makes the universe feel populated by people with entire ridiculous lives just off the page.
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The cleaning robot
Crisp thief and garbage-dispenser casualty
The cleaning robot is a perfect Space 2047 side character: a small machine that causes disproportionate emotional drama. Its crisp theft makes Susan instantly memorable.
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The chocolate bar
Possible future sentient disaster
Cedric’s chocolate bar is funny because the crew immediately imagine it becoming alive, stealing food and ram-raiding chocolate factories. Even uneaten snacks are dangerous here.
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The lonely biscuit
A small object treated like a citizen
The biscuit is not a normal character, but the security droid’s story gives it comic dignity. Space 2047 often treats objects as if they might have entire emotional biographies.
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The chip shop inside a black hole
Impossible destination with dangerous appeal
The chip shop functions almost like a character because it has personality, temptation and danger. It is one of the book’s best comic sci-fi ideas: ordinary British food placed somewhere cosmically impossible.
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Are We There Yet!
The crew’s spacecraft
The spaceship has a name that captures the whole tone of the book: boredom, travel, impatience and comedy. It is the battered home of the crew and the stage for their strangest conversations.
